advise please!

pop_123

I recieved 2 windscreen parking tickets from PCM in a month while parked in my allocated residents space where I live. the first was due to my permit slipping and not being displayed in the windscreen. the 2nd one was due to my permit being 'invalid' - thankfully this was let off by POPLA after reading info on here!

Unfortunately though, I hadnt seen any threads on here for the first ticket. i sent my appeal to PCM which was rejected. I then appealed to POPLA who also rejected my appeal (due to it being mitigating circumstances). I tried to complain to my management company but they werent interested and said I would have to complain to PCM directly. I have now had a final demand for money from PCM to pay within 14 days. I just wanted advise on what to do next as the threads I have read are all for people who ignored the initial invoices and didnt appeal?

any help would be greatly appreciated thanks.

Redx

popla never accept mitigation, so you have to use these 3 arguments in this soft appeal letter as a bare minimum in future

Dear PPC,

As the registered keeper of (reg) I'm in receipt of your parking invoice xxxxxx dated xxxxxx. I wish to invoke your appeals process as all liability to your company is denied on the following:

1) The amount being claimed is not a genuine pre-estimate of loss to your company or the landowner
2) Your signage does not comply with the BPA Code of Practice
3) You are not the landowner and do not have the capacity to offer contracts or to bring a claim for trespass

These points and others will be raised with Popla should you not accept this appeal, and you will be expected to provide a full breakdown of your alleged loss, and your full unredacted contract with the landowner.

If you do reject the challenge and insist upon taking the matter further I must inform you that I may claim my expenses from you. The expenses I may claim are not exhaustive but may include the cost of stamps, envelopes, travel expenses, legal fees, etc. By continuing to pursue me you agree to pay these costs when I prevail.

Please issue your cancellation within 35 days of this letter, or forward a popla verification code.

Faithfully

as for your question about this DR type letter, please read the NEWBIES - READ THIS FIRST sticky thread at the top of this forum , about 4 down

Coupon-mad

I would also suggest the 'LBCCC Fightback' thread is the one to read, as it sounds as though you may have got PCM's version of a 'final warning' before court. Treat it like a 'badly-worded LBA' then, needs a formal acknowledgment and response, tearing it apart as explained by zzzLazyDaisy in the LBCCC sticky.

The info stickies are for all circumstances including yours. PCM do try the odd court claim so be proactive and do not ignore any letter - tell us what you get when you send a robust response.

pop_123

thankyou for your replies. I forgot to mention previously that popla took 4 montha to let me know their decision and in their reply they first listed that the breach happened in a public carpark in another part of the county. (further down the letter they did correctly write the location.)

I just wondered if this would have any impact on proceedings and if I should do anything about this?

thanks.

Redx

it should have no bearing on this current popla appeal

pop_123

Coupon-mad wrote: »

I would also suggest the 'LBCCC Fightback' thread is the one to read, as it sounds as though you may have got PCM's version of a 'final warning' before court. Treat it like a 'badly-worded LBA' then, needs a formal acknowledgment and response, tearing it apart as explained by zzzLazyDaisy in the LBCCC sticky.

The info stickies are for all circumstances including yours. PCM do try the odd court claim so be proactive and do not ignore any letter - tell us what you get when you send a robust response.

thanks for the advice. I have read through this info, and now just reread the letter i received which says the next stage will be passing it onto debt collecters, which may then result in court action. I was just wondering if I should still reply to this letter as your advice above, or ignore it?

also is there any information on court costs if things go that far? I was just wondering what the potential damage could be if a case is won, are court costs still applicable?

many thanks.

Coupon-mad

You could either:

- ignore it and just keep the debt collector letters (could later be used as evidence of harassment as in tospig's current thread on here, worth a read as he's had over 35 letters about several fake PCNs and has reached the end of his tether)
or
- respond robustly and tell them to 'put up or shut up' effectively, and add the usual paragraph in the 'Newbies' sticky thread which warns that you will charge for your costs and time at £18 per hour if they persist.

A PCN issued under the POFA 2012 to a registered keeper is restricted in the Act to the amount of the PCN if it goes to a hearing, so then they could only potentially add valid court fees (typically £50 or so) and IMHO would be unlikely to get any further costs, except maybe travel expenses if they got lucky and won. Almost certainly not even the POPLA fee of £27 since that is always to be borne by the industry whatever the outcome of decisions. We are not talking huge solicitor's bills being allowed in small claims and we are not talking the brains of Britain in terms of the legal arguments I would expect this PPC to put forward!

In other words it's no biggie, is defendable and doesn't even affect credit rating if you went to a hearing and lost (and then swiftly paid up). Just perhaps on balance, looks best if you respond to all letters and clearly set out your position.

pop_123

phew! thanks for this info, its put my mind at ease somewhat! ive read through the newbies sticky a few times, its very helpful; should I just use but slightly adapt the debt collectors template on there so its addressed directly to the PCC? I dont know if my brain is just overloaded with info, but I couldnt see anything about charging for.your time on there? theres so much to take in and remember, I dont know how you do it!!!

Redx

post #2 gives you the standard PPC template as used when there is still time, there is no reason why you cannot send it to the PPC as an appeal as there is always time to appeal before any court proceedings commence

the newbies thread gives various advice and links to posts etc that also detail other items and topics, the problem being it has to try and encompass everything it can so everybody is catered for

post #2 also has the part about charging for time etc listed in the bottom paragraph but doesnt cover everything the last poster said, but it is in that newbies thread (like the £18 per hour)

pop_123

oh ok great thanks, ill give that post another read then; I assumed as I had already appealed I couldnt do this again! I will draft something up tonight to send to them. thankyou for your help with this.

Redx

pop_123 wrote: »

oh ok great thanks, ill give that post another read then; I assumed as I had already appealed I couldnt do this again! I will draft something up tonight to send to them. thankyou for your help with this.

in theory you can appeal as many times as you like, same as they think they can send you letters any time they like

you have lost the chance to appeal within the time frames they have to allow you to , so the chances are they will reject your new appeal on that basis

but never say never ! bearing in mind if it went to court you could argue that you had tried to settle this via the popla route on more than one occasion

in fact, if you read the newbies thread , coupon-mad clawed back one for ken that was almost at the court stage, ken got a popla code and is drafting it this week

here is his thread https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4835679

so never say never !!!